To lose fat, you need to eat less and burn more. We all know that. At the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to. Everyone online wants to get fancy and complex. Create a caloric deficit and you’ll lose fat.

But if losing fat is so simple then how come so many people have fat loss troubles? I’ve said it before, all you need is a proven fat loss plan (check out The Fat Loss Diet).

Here’s 5 reasons why you might not be losing fat…

1. Underestimating How Much Food You Actually Eat

This is too common.  Everyone likes to say ” I watch what I eat but I can’t lose fat”. Well there’s a reason for that. Just because you’re not eating a lot of food doesn’t mean that you aren’t eating more calories than you need. Track your daily calories  on EVERYTHING that you eat.

2. Overestimating  How Much Fat You Burn

If you aren’t burning a large number of calories then there’s no way that you can eat a large number of calories and get away with it. The average individual burns about 1000 calories per workout. That’s not a large amount at all! You’d have to have a pro athlete schedule of living in the gym to be able to eat and drink all the good stuff in life on a daily basis.

Check out this great post on cardio vs diet.

3. Your Not Eating Enough

This is everyone’s issue. Not eating enough food is the #1 reason why diets fail. Sure you have to lower your calories to lose weight but if you lower them too much then your body will shut down.

I like telling people to , generally, drop their calories by 20% as a starting point.

Men should never go lower than 1800 calories per day and women should never go under 1200 calories per day.

If you are at those numbers than burn the extra calories that you have to lose from your cardio (Take a look at the Pace Interval system here)

This is why people binge and you’ll just end up with a slow metabolism.

4.  You’re Not Eating As Healthy As You Think

Just because you eat organic or follow the labels that say “low fat” “reduced fat” or “low carbs” doesn’t mean that the food is a good weight loss food.  If your great, great, great grandfather couldn’t eat it then you shouldn’t eat it either.

5. Don’t fall for “advanced” techniques

I hate to say it but you aren’t different. I don’t say that to be mean but stop looking for these advanced, too scientific approaches. Just follow some basic fat loss rules and you’ll win!